Adding Vendors

The following steps will explain in detail how to add a new Vendor. They are divided into the seven needed Tabs: General Tab, Detail Tab, Field Tab, Activity Tab, Notes Tab, Contact Tab, and History Tab. The History Tab is not discussed since it reflects historical, not new, information. You may go to Help on the Vendor History tab by clicking on the following, Vendor History Tab.

General Tab

1.First click on the Vendors topic from the Contact Manager topic in the Main Menu. This will open the Find Vendors search form. In this Find Vendors form click the New Vendor button in the lower left hand corner of the form. This will bring you to the Vendors form, cleared so you may enter a new Vendor. The cursor will be flashing at the top of the form in the Company field under the General Tab.

2.You can then enter the Company Name. It is not necessary to add a Company Name but this will give you another avenue to search for that vendor in the future. If you enter a Company name, that information will print on the reports throughout the program.

3.Custom Vantage Office will automatically assign a unique Vendor ID for each vendor since the program comes with the feature that allows automatic assigning of Vendor IDs in the Starting Numbers form. You may disable this automatic assigning of Vendor ID numbers by going to Stamp Shop Manager's Main Menu, clicking on the following: the Company Preferences Topic, the General Tab, the Starting Transactions Numbers box, the Cards Tab, the little white box to the right of the Vendor ID field that has a check mark it and the word Enable to the right of it. With the Auto Vendor ID field disabled, you may assign a unique Vendor ID which can be 20 alphanumeric characters in length. For example: Joe Smith might be referenced as SMITJ01 using the first four letters of the last name, the first letter of the first name and then 01. There are many different naming conventions to choose from when creating your ID's. Some companies use the phone number or just a unique number for their ID's. When you have finished entering data for each field, press the TAB or ENTER key to move your cursor to the next field.

4.Then enter your Account number for the selected vendor.

5.You can then fill in all the basic vendor information like Contact Name, Contact Title, Alt. Contact, address, City, Zip Code, County,Country, Phone, Fax, E-mail, and Web Site. Most of this is the main data that will be displayed on the Bill To and Ship To sections of all purchase transactions created for this vendor.

Special Zip Code Feature
You will notice as you Tab through these fields the program will skip over the City and State and bring you to the Zip Code field combo box. The zip code combo box will list every zip code you have entered up to this point. If you enter a zip code that you have not used before, a message will appear asking if you want to add the add zip code. If you choose to add the zip code then the Zip/Postal Code form will open. You will then need to fill in the city, state, county and country and click the OK button to add it to the Zip Code records. The city, state, county and country will now be automatically filled in and you will never have to enter that information twice. From now on in any form that uses zip codes you will be able to select and use the one you just entered saving you data entry time. You can add, delete and edit zip codes from the Zip/Postal Code form at any time.

Special address Feature
You will notice as a small colored Globe to the right of the address box. If you have Internet access, once you have completed the address, City, State, and Zip Code fields, and, you click on the globe, you will be automatically brought to the Yahoo Web site showing the location of your customer on a map!

6.The next step is to select a Vendor Type. The Vendor Type field is a great way to categorize and group your vendors. There are a few default types that have been added when you created a new data file. Of course, you can edit this list by clicking on the Ellipse button next to this field, which will open the Vendor Type form.

Setup Information

Terms is also a very important field. In this field it follows the Stamp Shop Manager defaults (setup tab in Company Preference), you can click the drop down button to be able to change the default Terms the way the customer wants to pay for the merchandise. If the Terms you want to use is not in the list box just go to the System topic in Main Menu and click Terms, in that way you can add or edit a terms.

You can use the Ship Via to setup a default shipping method for each vendor. Normally this will automatically fill in with your default Ship Via setup in Company Preference form but you can change it, Just click the drop down button to be able to choose the way the vendor wants to shipped the merchandise. If the Ship Via you want to use is not in the list box just go to System topic in Main Menu and click Ship Via to be able to add or edit a ship via.

The Currency field is used to assign a default currency for each vendor. Normally this will automatically fill in with your default Currency ID setup in the Company Preferences form but you can change it for foreign vendor. If the currency you want to use is not in the list you will have to add it to the Currency Exchange Rate form. Every time this vendor is used on an invoice or order their default currency will fill in the Currency ID on that form. You can still override the Currency ID after it fills in if you need to but it helps speed data entry.

You may place the vendor on Credit Hold by clicking on the check box to the right of the word Credit Hold:.

You may enable the Acceptance of Back Orders by clicking on the check box to the right of the words Accept BO.

You may click on the check box by the word Active to show the Vendor is an Active Vendor.

Detail Tab

You can get to the Detail page of information by clicking on the Detail tab.

1.First enter General Information like manager and specialize. These fields are optional and can be used to enter any kind of information you wish. They are not used anywhere else in the program except this form.

2. Next enter the Credit Limit the vendor has given your company.

3. The PO Minimum will display the number of items you want the company to order.

4. The Balance field will display the current outstanding balance you owe the vendor. This is based on all your Posted Bills, Opening Balances, Bills, Deposits and Payables.

5. The Tax ID field can be used to enter whatever information you find necessary.

6. The Expense ID combo box field is used to assign a default expense account for each vendor that is used when creating Vendor Bills. This field automatically fills in with the default expense account that is setup in the Security form > Default Accounts tab.

7. When you are through filling out all of the information about your vendor, you can click on the New button to add another vendor or click the Save button to save the vendor.

Log History

The Vendor History area is read only and the information displayed here is calculated and displayed for your reference. Each field is detailed below.

1.The Entered field is a read only field and it automatically reflects the date this vendor was first input into the program.

2.The Modified date is a read only field and it automatically reflects the date this vendor's file has been changed in any way.

There are several helpful options that can be set in the Company Preferences form to help make data entry easier and faster. One great feature in the Company Preferences form is to have the text fields displayed a certain way when you enter data so that it is easier to read and more consistent throughout the program.

Fields Tab

The User Fields area is used to store the names of different contact methods used like Phone, Fax, E-mail, Web Site, and any other contact information that you use. Under the Field tab, simply click on the drop down button (the arrow head pointing down) to select the type of user field you wish. Then, type in the Value (whether it be a phone number, an E-mail address, etc.) in the Value field. As you can see, you may add a number of User Field by clicking the ellipse button beside the word Field.

Activity Tab

The Activity tab displays a single line item list of all the activities that have been entered for the selected vendor. Clicking on the ellipse button next to a specific activity will open the Vendor Activity form displaying the details of that activity. All the fields in the vendor activity are read only.

To add new Vendor Activity click the last little yellow folder next to a blank line item or click the Schedule button at the bottom of the form.

Notes Tab

The Notes tab displays a single line item list of all the notes that have been entered for the selected vendor. Clicking on the ellipse button next to a specific contact log will open the Vendor Notes form displaying the details of that contact log. All the fields in the vendor contact log list are read only.

Contacts Tab

The Contacts Tab provides you an area to put multiple contacts, sites and departments for the customer. To add contacts, you should click the ellipse button by "Contact Name" to open the Contact Line Item Detail. To add sites or departments, you would follow the same procedures.

History Tab

The History Tab displays a single line item list of all the posted transactions that a vendor has placed in the past. Clicking on the ellipse button next to a specific transaction will open that transaction if you would like to see more details.